To everyone who loves Manga and Anime,

Thank you for loving these products.Thank you for having good taste in content.Thank you for protecting the future of Manga and Anime.

We will continue to stop piracy.We are Manga-Anime Guardians.

What is the MAG Project?

The MAG (Manga-Anime Guardians) Project crosses beyond Manga publishers and Anime companies to consider the possible “brilliant future” of Manga and Anime. At the center of the project are fans all over the world who enjoy Manga and Anime culture. In other words, all of you. Because of piracy, new talent isn’t being cultivated. Through everyone enjoying content in its official form, creation is spurred and new works that stretch beyond imagination can be born. “Thank you for loving Manga and Anime.”The MAG Project was started in order to share this feeling with everyone.

PLACE

Maintaining an environment in which official versions can be easily enjoyed.

FUTURE

To continue creating works that answer everyone’s expectations and to cultivate new talent that crosses beyond imagination.

CREATION

Spur creation through all fans loving and supporting the official versions.

The Shocking Facts of Piracy

Regrettably, according to a report by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, a huge number of Manga and Anime fans, over 50% of them in the U.S. and 12% in Japan, are watching or reading pirated works.

The estimated cost of damage from online piracy is as much as JPY 2 trillion (approximately US$ 20 billion). In addition, a report by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan indicates that in the major cities of China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing) the damage cost to Japanese content is JPY 560 billion (approximately US$ 5.6 billion) per year.

In a ranking by an information distribution survey site, for example, a popular piracy site is ranked 156th in Japan and 1,391st in the world, which is a similar rank with major listed companies on a stock firm in Japan.

Another example of showing you the serious situation of piracy is the number of illegal downloads of a popular Manga series from the piracy site: 41,363DLs for Volume 67, 39,623DLs for Volume 68, and 31,924DLs for Volume 69.

Piracy offences in Anime have also been serious. Pirated videos of a popular feature-length Anime have over 12 million views on a well-known video hosting site, which likely brought in a lot of illicit profits to the “pirate” from advertisement space.

This is a notice of sale from a piracy site of middle standing that is, for some reason, on sale.

Up until a decade ago, some “pirates” used to illegally upload the latest Manga/Anime just because they wanted to get attention online. Others loved Manga and Anime so much that they translated scripts created video subtitles for their own satisfaction. But, it is not like that anymore; now it is all about money in most cases.

In these days, “pirates” are getting advertisement revenue, kickbacks from cyberlockers, affiliations with E-commerce sites, and selling apps.

They are exploiting Manga and Anime just for the sake of money.

Manga publishers and Anime companies have worked hard to deal with piracy on their own, but they are getting nowhere. They have deleted illegally uploaded works one after another, but “pirates” keep re-uploading works, and setting up new piracy sites…

Now is the time for everyone to come together to overcome this difficulty. That is the reason why the Manga-Anime Guardians Project was born. This project is designed to thank you, who love Manga/Anime and are willing to show respect to the people who continue to create their wonderful worlds. Act now for the “bright future of Manga-Anime!”